Another Side of Me
by Hylander McLeod
Summary: Everybody has darkness. They just need to unleash it. Or at least a reason to. [A threeshot]
1. 1st Verse

disclaimer- I do not, have any ownership rights to Yu-Gi-Oh or "Downfall". The first belongs to Takahashi, the second to Trust Co.

* * *

**Another Side of Me **

_Fear in me so deep_

_It gets the best of me_

_In the fear I fall_

_Here it comes face to face with me_

_Here I stand_

_Hold back so no one can see_

_I feel these wounds_

_Step down . . . step down . . . step!_

_Am I breaking!_

Joey Wheeler continued to pace in his room. The last few words uttered by Kaiba were for once music to his ears instead of another insult. True he was thinking of only himself, but when was thinking of oneself a bad thing. Kaiba had easily put away the horiffic situation of happened in the past few hours behind him. Mokuba may have thought differently of the matter, rather hopeful that thegreen haired boy had survived as well. Though Joey himself heavily distrusted Noah, he did not take pleasure in the kid's death. Or perhaps the teen's death. There was no correct answer for the issue. Noah had believed he had aged whereas Yugi proved it correctly that his mindset is still that of a child, slightly younger than a teenager. He had just recently seen Mokuba's dejected exresson after how his brother, the CEO of the largest and most advanced gaming company, had turned the matter aside like it didn't phase him, which to Joey's surprise would not be unusaul.

**_a few minutes ago_**

_"All right. That little detour was a complete waste of time. So lets pretend that nonsense never happened." The CEO spoke flat and bluntly as the matter was unimportant and irrelevant. Mokuba's face of hope to once again his brother, to him it didn't matter that they were not blood reletavies- they were still family in his eyes, had been doused out like a fire extinguisher would douse a burning flame. He uttered a small gasp. Questioning looks appeared on the face Yugi Moto as well as Tea but the cold CEO paid attention. "It's time for us to continue the Battle City Finals." Turning to the pilot he said "set us back on course for Kaiba Corp Island." _

_**presently**_

Joey had to admit, the man was rather obssessed. Just because he's can't beat one person. Kaiba was still one the world's best. For him that would have enough but for Kaiba it wasn't. Joey suddenly punched a wall. Under these circumstances even for him it wasn't enough. At the moment he could not think about this as some dueling contest. Mai's mind was still in the Shadow Realm and he would not rest until he got it back. Joey took out his deck from his duel disk once more and looked through it. "Great. I gotta beat Marik and get Mai's mind back. Problem is I don't know what to expect from the guy. I almost lost that match with Odion but i can't pull off two miracles." In frustration he punched another wall several times. "Goddamn it, i gotta find a way to anhialate Marik if it's the last thing i do."

He was surprised to hear laughter coming from his room. It sounded like...him. But that was impossible. "And to what ends would you go to achieve this?" the voice asked. Joey looked around confused as to find where the source was coming from. "Look closely you fool. Time is short now." Joey turned around, surprised that the voice was comming from the mirror and from...his reflection?

"Oooookay...now I've seen everything" he said, his eyes rolling. The other simply laughed.

_Can I break away_

_Push me away_

_Make me fall _

_Just to see_

_Another Side of me_

_Push me away_

_You can't see_

_What I see_

_The other side of me_

* * *


	2. 2nd Verse

disclaimer- AS i said before i hold no rights to YU-Gi-Oh or Downfall. I do however hold exclusive rights to Shadow Joey.

* * *

Another Side of Me

_Fall back on me_

_I'll be the strength I need_

_Face me now_

_Just come face to face with me_

_Stay in place you'll be_

_The first to see_

_Me heal these wounds_

_Step down . . . step down . . . step !_

_Am I breaking! _

"You've hardly seen anything at all, Joseph Wheeler."

Joey cringed at the sound of the voice. It sounded like his but darker and more menacing. "H-how do you know who I am?" he managed.

Shadow Joey simply snickered "It's easy, after all I am you."

Joey stared at him in mix of interest and confusion. Good thing none of friends were here or they'd think he was crazy. Heck, he himself felt crazy. Who wouldn't fell crazy if they talking to someone who looked them through a mirror. Seeing how Joey Wheeler wasn't gonna speak the other decided to instead. "Ever watch X-files brother? really cool show".

Joey made a face? "You gotta be kidding me right?"

"Are you hear to bicker or do you want vengeance?" the remark was blunt. "In my world Joey, the paranormal is real. I'm you with a different twist.Though we are not the same we are identical. You are me. I'm you. We just don't know it."

Joseph Wheeler became annoyed with the remarks of his doppleganger. He raised his fist prepared to smash the mirror. Anticipating his actions Shadow Joey smirked. "that won't do you much good, dear brother. Except destroy chances of succeeding in your actions." Joey knew that smirk- Kaiba's smirk. That was the expression on the other's face. 'But I'm looking into a mirror. Is that smirk on my face as well? No it couldn't be. I'm not like Kaiba.' Shadow Joey did not wait for a response.

"Still in doubt, Joey?" Joseph Wheeler balled his fists. "You claim not be like Seto Kaiba, but you are admit the truth."

"What truth?"

"The truth which I accept but you deny. A part of Kaiba does exist in you." Ignoring Joey's disapproving look, he continued. "Your reasons may not be same nonetheless, but you do seek vengeance."

Joey Wheeler exploded with rage. "I do seek vengeance. I seek justice."

Shadow Joey simply chuckled. "And what is justice if not vengeance in it's purest form?" He folded his arms and looked the other dead in the eye. "You cannot win yet Joey Wheeler. True you have faith, heart, friendship but if you go in now you will lose. Your missing one thing. One key thing."

Joey stared into the eyes of his doppleganger. "What do you suggest I do?"

Shadow Joey laughed once again. "I don't suggest anything. I keep my intentions hidden."

"Then what the hell are you doing here?"

"There's only one way to defeat Marik Ishtar. The question is, my friend, what are you willing to risk?"

Joey was beyond self control now "At this point, everything. I wanna make that son of a bitch regret ever messing with us."

Shadow Joey smiled. "Then I'll give you my assistance. just don't screw it up."

Joey nodded. "So how do I stop him?"

Shadow Joey's hand extended to the rim of the mirror. "The only way to fight darkness is with darkness itself. Know the other side of the spectrum and you will have the full picture. See your very same world but with my prespective. Then combine it yours and you will know what to do. Do we have an agreement?"

Joey pondered this thought. Would he want to know darkness. The window of light had long cleared it away. 'But he said that I have it. I just need to admit that' he thought. He looked back on the days of his life, before he met Yugi and developed a friendship, when he was a fighter, a punk and druggie. Yes, he had darkness indeed. Now he needed to realize it. His mouth opened. "Yes." His arm extended to the mirror on the opposite side.

With a laugh and pull of his arm by the other, Joey was sucked through the mirror.

_Can I break away_

_Push me away_

_Make me fall _

_just to see _

_another side of me_

_Push me away_

_You can't see _

_What I see_

_The other side of me_

* * *


	3. Closing

disclaimer- No ownership rights to anything other than my OC.

* * *

**Another Side of Me**

_Can I break away_

_Push Me away_

_Makeme fall _

_Just to see_

_Another side of me_

_Push me away_

_You can't see _

_What I see_

_The other side of me_

Shaking his head slightly, Joey Wheeler focused his eyes to open. With his vision no longer distorted Joey began forcing his legs to move... only to find that they could not. He looked down and gasped at what he saw. He was strapped to chair that seemed to floating on a dark piece of ground surrounded by nothingness. "What the hell... How the hell... Where the heck am I? What - Oh yeah now I remember. I was talking to some specter through a mirror and then he pulled me in." He took a look around once more before trying to think of a clue as to his location. A dark voice brought him out of his thoughts.

"Finally awake are we? It's about time."

Joey suddenly looked to his left. Standing there next to a control panel of a large computer screen was his 'other self', clad in a trencoat, much like the ones Kaiba wore, but this was not a denim blue or silvery color. No, this one was a rather deep sacrlet that seemed to be ... dripping?. Indeed the shades of color did seem to have a downard movement yet the color never faded from the cloth not even for instant. 'Blood' Joey thought to himself. He was surpried to here laughter resonating in his head.

'Ha ha ha. Not hardly, my dear brother.'

Joey had looked alarmed. 'What the heck is this? Now this guy's a mind reader? It's really starting to creep me out.'

Shadow Joey attempted to supresses a smirk though it slightly showed on the corners of his mouth. 'Really now.' Seeing the other's shocked expression once again he instead closed his eyes as if trying to concentrate on something. When they opened once again the platform they were located on was no longer stationary but moving, as drifting through hypertime through an endless vaccum of space. Joey once again began to tear at his restraints, and almost immediately regretted doing so. With a glance of the others eyes the chair was suddenly slammed against the wall, and a support from it came down completely trapping him in the seat. The anger in Joey's blood began to boil. Who ever this idiot was he messing around with him and it angered him to point where he could lose his control. It didn't even occur to him that the chair he was in made no as it slammed against the 'wall'. He was enraged. "Why the heck don't you fight a man and stop it with these tricks of yours?"

Shadow Joey chuckled slightly "Who said anything about fighting?" He ignored the look given to him by the actual Joey. "And the're not tricks. Not all of them anyway." Joey gave him a funny look. The other simply chuckled. "Do you think we can only hear each other's thoughts? Do you think its coincidence?"

Joey's temper blew it's top. "Enough already. Where the heck are we?"

"Relax I won't keep you in the dark much longer." Suddenly they were surrounded by an illuminating flame. Shadow Joey roared with laughter. "I told I'd shed some light on the subject."

Joey growled at this guys ridicuclous puns.

"We're on the astral plane, Joseph. A place where all thoughts and timelines intertwine. There are countless lives in the world. And we can all hear what the're thinking. right now." As they traveed farther ghostly images appeared. Memory and thoughts flew by. Joey wasn't too interested with many of them but he did key in on a few. "..._'ve got to defeat Marik. For our friend's sake..." "... will become the word's best duelist once again..." "...banish everyone to the shadow realm. hahahaha ..." _Joey looked questioningly at the other figure, who was at this point searching through the computer console. "so you're saying everyone's thoughts travel through here?

"Not exaclty every person's. More like every part of them. seeing Joey's ponderous look he motioned to his right with an arm. Joey once again saw a ghastly image of Kaiba, though a rather diffeent Kaiba and with diferent thoughts "_... will never mistreat my brother again. I can' ..." _With a different motion he saw the thoughts of the other, the Marik _".. fault for what happened to..." _"Some thoughts simply overpower others creating a state in which the individual functions until other thoughts rise to surface."

"Yeah well nice lecture and all, but how the heck does it exactly help me?" Joey retored. Suddenly his expression changed. Shadow Joey had stepped back from the computer, a huge grin on his face. And from what Joey knew so far whenever this darker version of himself grinned it was not a good thing. "Why the heck are you smiling like that?"

"Simple. I have found the solution." He gestured to the computer sreen. Sometimes even _misguided_ memories can change the nature of a person. The look on Joey's face asked him the 'what are you planning question.' "Just sit back and enjoy the show."

Joey focused his eyes on the computer screen and immediately wanted to punch the other. On the display was the reason for his parent's divorce, his father's beatings on his mother, Serenity, the countless conversations he and his mother had that always ended up in him losing his temper and finally the devastating scene of Seenity taken away by his mother and him running after their car. The scenes then shifted to the Death-T tournament where Tristan was stuck in puzzlebox arena and he and the gang could not reach him to get him out. Marik using him and Tea to get to Yugi and finally trapping Mai's mind in the shadow realm once their duel ended. The screen turned off.

"Enjoy it?" asked a figure.

"You bastard." Joey was already beyond losing his cool. he wanted to kill Shadow Joey for having to relive this but the restraints held him. Try as he might he could not break them.

"You anger stems from many points. But it's scattered across different targets so you can't combine it. Can't harness it." With that, a thought came to the darker minded person. "But would you be able to? How would your anger spurn if the memory was this?" The screen turned back on once again showing the same memory but at the end it showed Marik laughing mainacally at the younger Joey's pain. "Or perhaps this?"

_Tristan was finally smashed by a block. Kaiba was smiling demonically. He laughed. But it wasn't his laugh. It was Marik's_

The Images continued. The last one with Marik tourturing Mai's mind and then her unconcious form, carving those cuts with the dagger of the millenium rod did the trick. One thing remained hard on Joey's mind. _Kill Marik. Kill Marik. I have to kill Marik._ Little by little,all other thoughts began to fade away into the back of his mind. Tea's friendship speaches, "the heart of the cards" The love Serenity had for him and his returned love for her. All those thoughts were pushed away. With an animalistic roar, he broke the restraints sending the pieces across the room. There was a smile on Shadow Joey face." Congradulations." He literaly flew at Joey, pushing him back.

"Ahhhh." Joey found himself standing back in his room. 'I must have been hallucinating' he thought, after taking in the surroundings. Yet as time passed on Joey felt somewhat different. Emotions that he at one point either had put aside, or never felt before began to surface. As more and more of the emotions surfaced a will to supress them faded, welcoming them instead. Joey's normally dark blond hair, lit ablaze. The Eye of Horus appeared on his forhead. A deep crimson aura appeared around him. Joey's voice took a sinister tone. "You'll pay, Marik. You'll pay with your life what you did."

"Attention all finalists, prepare to disembark, Kaiba Craft 3 for the continuation of the battle city finals." came the call over PA system.

Taking one last look around Joey headed out the door, vengance in mind and on his heart. "Let's see which is Stronger, Marik- your rod or my anger."

_No one can see _

_Anything on the other side of me_

_I walk I crawl_

_Losing everything and waiting for a downfall _

_No one can see _

_Anything on the other side of me _

_I walk I crawl_

_Loosing everything on a downfall_

* * *

_finally updated. sorry about the wait. _

_as always, R&R_


End file.
